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The Blind Boys of Alabama, winners of animpressive four Grammy Awards in the past four years, will be performing their soulful family Christmas tourGo Tell It On The Mountain all over the country again this year. They will take their annual holiday show to major cities around the country includingCleveland, San Francisco, Fort Worth, Austin, and end at Los Angeles'prestigious Walt Disney Concert Hall.

While preparing for the holiday tour, the Blind Boys took time out to perform at a heavenly tribute to Sam Cooke at the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame last week. Kicking off the performance with This Little Light of Mine, the Blind Boys joined Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello, The DixieHummingbirds, Solomon Burke and others on the bill.

The band will also perform on the "Tonight Show" during Christmas week.

Following his highly acclaimed album 'Diam' and his international touring success Daby has been recognised with a nomination in the 'newcomer' section of the prestigious BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. The winners will be announced at the Awards concert in London on April 7 2006

You can get a double dose of Christmas cheer this year from our online shop! We are selling copies of the DVD of the Blind Boys Live in New York in a bundle with the Grammy aware winning CD 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' - both items glittering with festive fun and a stocking full of special guests from Chrissie Hynde to Mavis Staples for only £ 25!

Finland's Värttinä enter 2006 with the release of their tenth studio album, Miero, in January on Peter Gabriels Real World Records.

The focus of Miero ("Outcast") is voices. Värttinä singers Mari Kaasinen, Susan Aho and Johanna Virtanen collaborated with producer Aija Puurtinen, one of Finland's most respected female singers and well-known vocal adventurer, to create the most vocally exciting album in the band's twenty-three year history. Never before have the Värttinä vocals sounded so crisp and powerful, the harmonies so clear, the solos so pure.

Miero also features some of the darkest, most sinister themes yet from Värttinä 's lyricists. Yet there are also tender songs of love and silence. As with every other Värttinä album, melody is still the dominant feature. The group's compositional skills are as refined and potent as any time in their career as songwriters. Miero is a song journey from start to finish.

The release of Miero coincides with Värttinäs main stage appearance at the Midem convention in Cannes on January 22 and with the North American premiere in Toronto of the stage production of Lord of the Rings featuring music co-composed by Värttinä with Indian composer A R Rahman and music supervisor Chris Nightingale. The first night of LOTR previews is February 2 at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto with the Opening Gala set for March 23. The Music of Lord of the Rings album will be recorded in summer 2006. The London West End premiere will take place in early 2007. Producer: Kevin Wallace.

Los de Abajo are set to perform on 'Later', to be broadcast on Friday 28th Oct, BBC2, at 11.35pm. The band, whose live set has been described as "the global party of the year", will be joined by orginal Fun Boy Neville Staple and Dennis 'Bad Bone' Rollins on 'The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum'.

The very first John Peel Day takes place on Thursday 13 October - a celebration of his life and legacy and his contribution to music and broadcasting. The night before on Wednesday 12 October BBC Radio 1 are putting on a special night at the QEH on the South Bank in London featuring Misty In Roots alongside New Order, The Fall, Super Furry Animals among others.If you haven't bought a ticket you have sadly missed the boat! But Radio 1 are broadcasing highlights of the show the following day.

Charlie Musselwhite will perform a benefit show at Slims in San Francisco on Nov. 2 to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. Boz Scaggs and Taj Mahal are also scheduled to perform. After that, Charlie heads to Switzerland where he will be performing on Nov. 10 and 12 at the Lucerne Blues Festival.

Charlie performed as part of the Tom Waits band at "The Big Apple to the Big Easy" benefit for Hurricane Katrina victims in NYC last week at Radio CityMusic Hall. "Playing with Tom Waits was a thrill for many reasons. I stayed on my toes and watched Tom, then added tones like colors to apainting. His music has an intensity that is really unlike anything else. Working with Tom and the band he put together (Smokey Hormel, Marc Ribot,Larry Taylor and Stephen Hodges) was about as good as it can get," remarks Charlie. Other artists included John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Joss Stone and the Neville Brothers.